Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1887-03-26

The Indian river country, on the east coast of
Florida, is another splendid orange raising region,
and at one of the hotels where we stopped, the
Indian River hotel, at Rockledge, we found
wire basket holding two bushels of oranges on the
counter, and placard over it labeled, "Exclu-
sively for the use of our guests This basket is
kept always full and it is free to all who stop at
the hotel. The backwardness of Florida in manu-
featuring is shown in the fact that most of the
boxes in which this immense crop of oranges is
sent north are brought here from Maine. They
are brought in pieces ready to be nailed together
and are sent north again filed with fruit. We
saw bales of these boxes on some of the wharves,
and saw the negroes picking the oranges and
packing them away for market.
This Indian river is said to be the straightest
body of water in the.world. straight line can
be drawn through seventy-five miles of its course
without touching either shore. 1t is on the east
ern coast of Florida and is wide arm of the sea,
which is separated from the Atlantic by a narrow
strip of land from half a mile to three miles in
width. This strip of land contains some excellent
orange SOIL and this is worth in a wild state, am
told $500 per acre. The river is salt water and it
abounds in game and fish. We saw hundreds of
ducks in our sail up to Rockledge, and at times
these were so tame that they could have been
shot from the steamers deck. The best of this
land here is already taken, and we found pros
porous groves and big winter hotels everywhere.
1t seems strange here, ], 200 miles from New York
to find hotels as good as those at Saratoga or Long
Branch. and stranger still to find them filled with
well dressed men and women who have come here
for comfort during the winter just as they would
go to the seashore for the summer Here at the
Indian river found rooms heated by steam, great
parlors carpeted and elegantly furnished, wide
verandas, billiard rooms, and all the comforts of
the great American hotel. 1t is the same every
where we have gone. Our palates have been
tickled with French cookery, and we have been
waited upon by walters who have had their train
ing at the north.
This Indian river country produces the best
oranges in the world. and the senatorial party
have Toasted upon luscious fruit which they have
picked themselves from the trees. The flesh Of
these oranges is solid. They are heavy and sweet,
and they bring big prices in the markets of the
north. Even in Florida they are in great demand,
and they are worth S. a box at Jacksonville.
Many of the growers sell them here on the trees,
and understand that most of the product of
Florida is disposed of in this way. The greater
part of the California orange crop is bought by
Italians on the trees, and Italians, it is said, con-
troll the orange market of California as they do
that Of Italy. -.
But l started this letter with the growth Of
Florida. It is growing rapidly, and its popula-
ton in 1885 nearly twice that of 1870 1t built
more railway track in 1886 than any other state
of the Union, and settlements springing up all
along the lines of the new roads We found be
tween Sanford and Ttusville, to which point we
came to take the boat up the Indian river, much
cultivated and cleared lands and am told that
south Florida is beginning TO be developed by the
Cubans. This part of Florida contains a great
grazing country, and in ten years S2,5O0,Oo0
worth of cattle have been exported from il.